2004-12-26 - 12:44 a.m.

I love Christmas night. The frenzy is over, and there�s a lazy week ahead. But you can still be in full Christmas-geek mode drinking wassail, listening to exuberant songs like �Fairytale in NY� by The Pogues, eating buttery/sugary delights, sitting very, very still with thousands of candles burning all around just like that scene in that movie Stigmata. Actually, now I'm listening to the Matt Pond PA cover of "Holiday Road," and it's so beautiful! Go buy it right now!

I�ll admit the last few days have been a whirlwind of final preparations, but at least I didn�t get so panicked that I bought anyone a sweater from The Gap. To me, this spells victory. I hate being that desperate shopper blindly grabbing crap at 8:00 PM on Christmas Eve. Not that there�s anything wrong with sweaters from The Gap, but that particular item is just one step up from the gift card in the hierarchy of I-Didn�t-Really-Put-Any-Thought-Into-This gift-giving scale. Says me. I really tried hard this year. Of all the items, I have to say my favorite purchase was the Nara clock for Erik. Of course, since we live in sin (glorious sin), it�s also a present to myself. Selfish me.

Another holiday highlight was our big family outing to see Keb� Mo� at the Disney Concert Hall on Thursday. Have you ever watched white people try to dance-while-sitting? While watching an R&B act? It�s the best! If I were Spike Jonze, I would make that the underpinning of my next video. The honkies do not disappoint. We were fortunate enough to have a particularly zealous white-as-can-be dancing-while-sitting lady two rows in front of us.

On Christmas Eve, we made an appearance at the giant Christmas Eve Soup Party that Erik�s huge extended family has every year. Seriously, everyone brings soup. There are countless crockpots full of various types of soup. The soups take over an entire room. I contributed my current favorite (Spicy Butternut Squash). Also, to mix things up, I brought a green-bean casserole. I followed a recipe called �Emerlized Green Beans� that called for �Emeril�s Essence.� On closer examination, I realized that Emeril�s Essence is really just Creole seasoning, which I already had. But it was still fun to say �Emeril�s Essence� a lot and make references to The Dark Crystal and imitate skeksis. Imitating skeksis is probably not the kind of thing one should admit to on a public forum.

Christmas Day has been really lovely. Well, it was another 72-degree garishly bright Christmas Day in Southern California, the only location guaranteed to deliver a median year-round temp of 72 degrees Fahrenheit. It�s absurd. But aside from the out-of-control sunshine, it was beautiful. A lot of family fun. And a lot of good conversation, especially with my stepsister, a brilliant, stupidly successful attorney. I only see her once or twice a year, and she's so smart and humble and thoughtful and easy to talk to. I love her.

Time to relax and huff candle wax.

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